After leaving the Ancestral Shrine, Su Ye returned to the vehicle, only to find A Tai there too, clinging to Qingya's side.
That gave Su Ye an idea. A Tai had lived for at least five hundred years, and Qingya had a long lifespan too. In a way, they were the same kind of person.
"My lord, what are our plans now?"
Xing Meng stepped forward and asked.
"We wait. The Village Chief already said he'd have the Hunter lead us out of the village tomorrow," Su Ye said.
Hearing this, A Tai, who had been sitting beside Qingya, blinked her big eyes and looked up at Su Ye. "Big brother, are you leaving? Can you help us drive the monsters away?"
Su Ye looked at A Tai. Back in the Ancestral Shrine, he had forgotten to ask the Village Chief whether they could take her along.
"We are leaving. As for the monsters, if we run into any on the way, we'll definitely kill them."
Looking at the unusual little girl, Su Ye asked tentatively, "A Tai, would you like to leave with us?"
A Tai brightened at his first words, but shook her head at the invitation that followed. "No. A Tai can't leave."
"Why can't you leave?" Su Ye asked curiously.
He kept feeling that the solution to the village's predicament most likely lay with A Tai.
"I don't know, but I feel like there's something here that's very important to A Tai. A Tai has to stay," she said softly.
"Do you know what that important thing is? Or where it is?" Su Ye continued.
A Tai furrowed her little brows and thought for a long while. The effort seemed to make her head hurt, but in the end, she still couldn't remember what it was.